Sawmill carriage



June 1955 F. w. CLEEREMAN 3,

SAWMILL CARRIAGE Filed July 50, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Flehl INVENTOR. Faemcea W. CLEEREMAN A'YTORNEY June 8, 1965 F. w. CLEEREMAN SAWMILL CARRIAGE S Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 30, 1963 Humii g w um m m n I I I I n ,1

INVENTOR. RANus W. CLEEREMAN ATTORNEY June 8, 1965 F. w. CLEEREMAN 3,187,789

SAWMILL CARRIAGE Filed July 50, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

FRmus W.CLEE.RE. MAN

A'n-oamav United States Patent 3,187,789 SAWMELL CARRIAGE Francis W. Cleereman, Newald, Wis., assignor to The Filer and Stowell Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed July 30, 1963, Ser. No. 298,652 15 Claims. (Cl. 143-118) This invention pertains to sawmill machinery and more particularly to improved setworks for a sawmill carriage.

The principal object of this invention is to provide setworks of a simple yet sturdy design and further to provide an indexing mechanism for the setworks whichwill significantly increase the number of dilferent incremental advances by which the knees of the sawmill carriage may be moved toward the saw line of the carriage.

The setworks embodying the present invention are designed to permit the sawmill personnel to maintain and repair the setworks without the need for outside technical assistance. T o attain this, I have eliminated the electrical and/or electronic setworks controls found in many of todays setworks and have substituted pneumatic controls in which the only significant adjustment is that of the length of the air cylinder stroke, which can be varied by merely turning an adjustment bolt.

The improved indexing or adjustability of the setworks embodying my invention is attained by employing a plurality of oppositely positioned and separately actuable air cylinders which are provided with sprocket wheels on their piston rods, whereby the sprocket wheels engage a chain which is fixed at one end to the setworks frame and at the other end to an indexing arm. By actuating any one or a combination of several of the air cylinders the indexing arm may be positioned to practically any pretermined position to thereby provide a corresponding variance in the incremental knee advancement. Again the simplicity of construction and operation of this mechanism is of great importance and value to the sawmill operator.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a sawmill carriage which is equipped with the setworks embodying the present in vention;

FIG. 2 is an end View of the setworks with the ratchet arm being shown in the indexed position in solid lines and in the position at the end of knee advancement in the broken lines; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the setworks shown in FIG. 2 when viewed from the right side thereof. 7 v Referring to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 shows a sawrnlil carriage 10 of standard construction which is generally comprised of a wheeled framework 12 mounted onspaced rails 14 which are adapted to guide the carriage toward and away from a powered saw. Knees 16' (one only being shown in FIG. 1) equipped with dogs 18 are transversely slidably mounted on the carriage and are adapted to position and grip a log which is to be sawed into boards. The position of the knees determines the size of the cut (ie the board thickness) and this position,

as well as the incremental knee advancement between successive cuts, is controlled by setworks 20.

A set shaft 22 is rotatably mounted in the carriage framework 12 and is provided with a sprocket wheel 24 which is connected by means of chain 26 to an air motor 28 and adapted to be driven thereby. A sprocket wheel 39 is provided on the motor shaft 32 for this purpose. Pinion gears 34 are keyed to the set shaft and engage a rack 36 provided on the bottom face of each of the 3,187,?89 Patented June 8, 1965 lice knees to thereby cause the knees to feed a log toward the 'saw line upon a clockwise rotation (when viewed in FIG. 1) of the air motor shaft and to retract the knees away from the saw line (as required when a new log is positioned on the carriage) upon counterclockwise rotation.

A sprocket wheel 38 is keyed to the setworks shaft 40 and engages chain 26. This sprocket wheel serves as the connection between the setworks 2t and the set shaft 22 and is operable to stop the advancement of chain 26 after a predetermined distance of travel.

The operation of the setworks can be best understood when referring to FIGS. 2 and 3. At this point it also should be understood that the operation and control of the sawmill carriage and setworks, including the actuation of the air motor 28 and the actuation of the various pneumatic controls of the setworks, is performed by the sawyer from a stationary control platform (not shown) which is connected to the carriage by a pantograph linkage (not shown) or other suitable means. It should also be noted that a clockwise rotation of the setworks shaft 49, when viewed in FIG. 2, will cause an advancement of the knees 16 toward the saw line.

The setworks 20 has a frame 42 which is mounted on the carriage framework 12 and which rotatably carries the setworks shaft 40 by means of bearings 44. The air motor 28 is mounted on a bracket 48, fixed to the frame 42, and is located to position sprocket Wheels 24 (FIG 1), 30 and 38 in a planar relationship.

The setworks shaft 49 carries a fixed ratchet gear 50 and a ratchet arm 52 rotatably mounted thereon by bearings 54. A pawl 56 is pivotally mounted to the ratchet arm 52 and is adapted to be moved in and out of engagement with the teeth 58 of the gear 50 by an air cylinder 60 which is pivotally mounted on the ratchet arm. The ratchet arm is urged for rotation in a counterclockwise direction by an air spring 62 which is fixed to the frame and connected to the hub 64 of the ratchet arm by a chain 66. The air spring is of sufiicient force to cause a rotation in this direction when the pawl 55 is disengaged from the ratchet gear.

With the pawl 56 engaged as shown in FIG. 2, the setworks is in a position to advance the knees 16 a predetermined distance upon energization of the air motor 28 by the sawyer. This energization will cause a clockwise rotation of the setworks shaft 49 and a corresponding rotation of ratchet gear 5i and ratchet arm 52, which remains fixed to the gear throughout this phase of op eration by virtue of pawl 56 remaining engaged with the teeth 58. The clockwise rotation of the setworks shaft (and thus advancement of the knees) is stopped when the ratchet arm 52 engages a stop 68 fixed to the frame 42 (as illustrated in broken lines of FIG. 2). Before coming to this position, a cam 76 carried by the counterbalance portion 72 of the ratchet arm actuates a limit switch 74 which serves to tie-energize the air motor 28 thereby causing the ratchet gear and arm to coast to a stop and thus eliminate the substantial inertia forces which might otherwise result. After this phase the log has been positioned for a new cut and the sawyer advances the carriage toward the saw.

At this point the sawyer actuates cylinder 60 to disengage the pawl 56 from the teeth of the ratchet gear and this permits the ratchet arm to swing back in a counterclockwise direction in response to air spring 62. This counterclockwise rotation is stopped by an indexing arm '76 which serves to locate the ratchet arm at a predetermined angular position from the stop 68 to thereby determine the degree .of the next knee advancement. At this point the sawyer again actuates the air cylinder 60 and causes pawl 56 to engage the ratchet gear teeth.

to the ratchet gear 50 is controlled by six separately actuable double acting air cylinders 78. The cylinders are positioned in two opposing banks of three and their piston rods 86 are provided with sprocket wheels 82 which are engaged by a chain 84, the latter being fixed at one end to the frame 42 by means of bracket 86 and at the other end to hub 88 of the indexing arm. The chain is maintained taut by a tension spring 90 which is fixed to hub 88 and exerts a counterclockwise bias on the indexing arm.

The expansion of one or a combination of several of the air cylinders 78 will cause a corresponding movement of the chain 84 and a counterclockwise rotation of the indexing arm 76. The piston rods 8i) carry bumpers 92 which are adapted to engage adjustment bolts 94 carried by brackets as on the opposing side of each cylinder. The adjustment bolts and brackets are so positioned that they will always cause a positive stop of their respective air cylinders at a point prior to the full expansion of the cylinder. This feature assures that the expansion of any of the cylinders will always give a precise predetermined indexing arm movement.

It is important to note that by means of adjustment bolts 94 the stroke of each cylinder can be varied so that the expansion of any one of the six cylinders, while maintaining the others retracted, will produce a different indexing arm position; The expansion of a combination of cylinders will'further increase the number of settings to which the indexing arm may be moved. Thus the sawyer has combined six settings by which he may selectively or cumulatively vary the cut thickness during the operation of the carriage, and further, by changing the distance between one or several of the bolts 94 and bumpers 96 he can attain any combination of six other settings.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims. 7

I claim:

1. A mechanism operable to move the knees of a sawmill carriage comprising,

motor means,

motion transfer means cooperating with said motor means to move the knees in accordance with the degree of motion of said motion transfer means,

first and second stop means movable in respect to each other in order to assume a plurality of spaced relationships,

means cooperating with said motion transfer means and moving between said two stop means to limit the degree of motion of said motion transfer means in accordance with the spaced relationship of said two stop means,

a flexible connector having one of its ends connected to impart motion to one of said stop means in response to flexure of said connector,

and movable means to flex said connector within a predetermined range of flexure to thereby cause movement ofsaid one stop means in accordance with the degree of flexure of said connector.

2.'A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said means cooperating with said'stop means is operable to reciprocally travel between said two stop means. during progressive knee advancement, and wherein said one of said stop meansis connected to said flexible connector at said one of its ends and is operable to intercept and stop such travel. I V

3. A mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said movable means is air cylinder means in engagement with said flexible connector and operable to cooperate with 4 said flexible connector in resisting said impact experienced by said one stop means. 7

4. A mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said movable means comprise a plurality of members selectively and independently movable a predetermined distance to flex said connector, and whereon the degree of flexure is controlled by the number of members so moved and upon their distance of travel.

5. A mechanism according to claim 4 including adjustment means to vary the length of the distance of movement of said members to thereby permit variance in the degree of flexure of said connector without varying the number of members moved to flex said connector.

6. A mechanism according to claim 5 wherein said members are pressure responsive cylinders and said adjustment means are means for varying the length of stroke of said cylinders.

7. A mechanism operable to move the knees of a sawmill carriage comprising,

motor means,

motion transfer means connected to said motor means and to the knees to move the knees in accordance with the movement of said motion transfer means,

a member rotatably movable with said motion transfer means and operable to terminate the movement of said motion transfer means after rotation of said member from a starting position determined by a first stop means to a position in which said member cooperates with second stop means to terminate movement of said motion transfer means,

means for rotating said member in respect to said motion transfer means and against said first stop means after said member has cooperated with said second stop means to terminate the movement of said motion transfer means,

means for rotatably mounting said first stop means in respect to said motion transfer means to thereby permit variation of the position of said first and in respect to said second stop means,

flexible connector means connected to said first stop means and engaged intermediate its ends by engagement means movable to cause flexure of said connector means and to rotate said first stop means to thereby vary rotation of said first stop means and vary the distance between said first and second stop means, and

control means to vary the amount of movement of said engagement means to .thereby provide a plurality of locations to which said'first stop means may be moved.

8. A mechanism according to claim 7 wherein said engagement means comprises a plurality of oppositely positioned movable elements.

9. A mechanism according to claim 8 including means for varying the amount of permissable motion of one of said movable elements to thereby permit variance in the amount of movement of said flexible connector.

10. A mechanism according to claim 9 wherein said movable elements are individually actuable pressure responsive cylinders.

11. A mechanism according to claim 10 including spring means which bias said stop means in a direction opposite to that of the motion imparted by said flexible connector means uponactuation of said pressure responsive cylinders.

12. A subassembly of a mechanism for controlling the knee advancement of a'sawmill carriage in which the knee advancement is controlled by the degree of travel of an indexing arm between first stop means and second stop means for terminating the knee advancement in accordance with its position in respect to the first stop means, comprising in combination, 7

a flexible connector connected at one of its ends to the first stop means,

5 r 6 means engageable with said connector for flexing said References Cited by the Examiner connector to thereby impart motion to the end'con- UNITED STATES PATENTS nected to the stop means and vary the relative posi- 806 349 12/05 Knight 143 114 XR tion of said first and second stop means. 857663 6/07 Osborn 143 119 13. A subassembly according to claim 12, said engage- 5 1 525714 2/25 g}; able means comprise a plurality of members individually 1i543:218 6/25 Martin 11 movable in respect to each other while in engagement 5 37 3 Field 143 119 with said connector to thereby vary the flexure of the 2 33 047 5 59 Worth et 1 connector and the corresponding movement of the knees 3,032 083 5 /62 St h t 1 143 -118 XR in accordance with the number of members which have 3,068,914 12/62 Sanbom 143-418 been moved in respect to each other.

14. A subassembly according to claim 13 including ad- FOREIGN PATENTS tabl to v th amount of movement f 'd 140,667 4/51 Australiafizmbsrs my 6 Sal 408,431 1/10 France.

15 15. A subassembly according to claim 14 wherein said WILLIAM W. DYER, JR, Primary Examiner. members are air cylinders. LEON PEAR, Examinen i n 

1. A MECHANISM OPERABLE TO MOVE THE KNEES OF A SAWMILL CARRIAGE COMPRISING, MOTOR MEANS, MOTION TRANSFER MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID MOTOR MEANS TO MOVE THE KNEES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DEGREE OF MOTION OF SAID MOTION TRANSFER MEANS, FIRST AND SECOND STOP MEANS MOVABLE IN RESPECT TO EACH OTHER IN ORDER TO ASSUME A PLURALITY OF SPACED RELATIONSHIPS, MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID MOTION TRANSFER MEANS AND MOVING BETWEEN SAID TWO STOP MEANS TO LIMIT THE DEGREE OF MOTION OF SAID MOTIJON TRANSFER MEANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SPACED RELATIONSHIP OF SAID TWO STOP MEANS, A FLEXIBLE CONNECTOR HAVING ONE OF ITS ENDS CONNECTED TO IMPART MOTION TO ONE OF SAID STOP MEANS IN RESPONSE TO FLEXURE OF SAID CONNECTOR, AND MOVABLE MEANS TO FLEX SAID CONNECTOR WITHIN A PREDETERMINED RANGE OF FLEXURE TO THEREBY CAUSE MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE STOP MEANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DEGREE OF FLEXURE OF SAID CONNECTOR. 